Malik had no qualms admitting that the IPL's standard was higher than that of Pakistan's recent series against Bangladesh.

New Delhi, April 24: Jaw-dropping action, nerve-wrecking thriller, high glamour quotient and song-and-dance to boot, the Indian Premier League is threatening Bollywood's popularity across the border, according to Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik.
Popular Hindi movies have traditionally, and often stealthily, managed their ways to the other side of the Line of Control. But of late, the Pakistanis have discovered a new source of wholesome entertainment in the form of the ongoing IPL, said Malik.
"People there have lapped it up like movies. It's like enjoying a cinema with popcorn. The three-hour duration (of the matches) also helped to create the craze," Malik, part of the IPL Delhi Daredevils squad, said in New Delhi on Thursday.
Along with the rest of the people in Pakistan, Malik and his team-mates were also hooked on to IPL matches even when they were playing against Bangladesh in the just-concluded ODI series.
"Even when we were playing Bangladesh, we saw the IPL matches in the dressing room," he said. Malik had no qualms admitting that the IPL's standard was higher than that of Pakistan's recent series against Bangladesh.
"The competition is definitely tougher (in IPL). So many international players are involved and each team can have only four foreigners, so the competition is naturally intense."
Malik rates his team among the top three strongest sides of the IPL and seemed in awe of his captain Virender Sehwag.
"I saw the first match of the team on television. The team has got great combination. Our fielding is superb and if you can save 20-25 runs in a match, that makes a hell lot of difference. As batsmen, Delhi players are naturally hard-hitting and we have a quality bowling attack as well."
On Sehwag, who butchered the Deccan Chargers with a buccaneering unbeaten 94 off just 41 balls, Malik said, "He would have gone on to score 160-170 that day. But we soon overwhelmed the target. I was padded up for I was supposed to go out next."
"When a player was in that form, it gives a lot of confidence to the next man in. Sehwag is a great player."
On his part, Malik said he has not left any stone unturned in his preparation for the Twenty20 extravaganza. Stressing on the need of improvisation in this slam-bang format of the game, the Pakistani captain said, "I have been practising the scoop shot to perfect it and whenever I get the chance, I would play the shot."

i'd say playing IPL is better than playing a few of the national teams not just bangladesh. i mean look at the chargers top 6 for the 3rd of may match: gilchrist, laxman, gibbs, r sharma, afridi and styris. that's a world class top 6, then have a look at bangalore's bowling line up in the same match: steyn, z khan, kumar, kumble and kallis. that again is a world class line-up better than most national team line-ups.

i mean of course the IPL's standard will be higher, it has a much larger range of players to pick from and they're taking the best of the best from each country and putting them all into the one competition in the same teams. it's just a cheap shot at bangladesh imo.

He is not doing very well in the IPL as of now, so he should keep his mouth shut.
i never realized that he was such a blabber mouth. IMO, BCB should have never sent this team to Pakistan, so that Pakistan could register more ODI wins and move up to No4 in the ICC rankings.

Malik probably felt like he needed to say something controversial just to turn people away from his batting woes. In three innings he has 49 runs at an average of 16.33. Malik's turning out to be an easy scalp for the "better than Bangladeshi" international bowlers which tells me that playing 5 ODIs against Bangladesh gave him wins that he otherwise he and Pakistan may have had to struggle to get meaning he would have struggled to keep his captaincy. If Bopara joined Delhi he wouldn't been playing much but forturnately for Malik he didn't. There are plenty of youngsters in IPL (Indians) who can't make it in the Indian batting line up for obvious reasons are better than him, he should realize how "s***" he is and concentrate getting a few runs and keep his spot otherwise the competition maybe too great for him. Rohit Sharma (not yet in the test squad but will be soon),Suresh Raina, Goel, Shekhar Dhawan, Manoj Tiwary, etc are better batsman than him without much international experience... he's just lucky because he's playing in Pakistan. I mean Malik would probably bat #7 (after Sarwan, Samuels, Chanderpaul, and perhaps even Bravo) if he played for West Indies and last time I checked WI are not that impressive. Jamie Dalrymple would have better stats than him if he batted against Bangladesh in the dead pitches of Pakistan.

Malik has a reputation of making stupid comments..remember the muslim comment in the 20-20.He is just a medicore (or below par) player who is insecure of his place in the Pak team.As far as his place in Delhi IPL ..any local lad would be better than him.He is not under the scanner as the Delhi top order is doing great ...let it fail and Mr.Malik will go packing.

Talking of team stengths, I dont think playing Pak would be better than playing the star filled teams of the IPL.

I would've said "bravo" to this comment had he not put Bangladesh under the spotlight here. I agree with Gowza...but that really isn't what Malik wanted to say. He wanted to be demeaning to Bangladesh, much like many other Pakistanis do on a regular basis. It's the superiority complex that some of them suffer from. So his intent was completely different.

Going with Gowza's comments, I would say that playing any team is a waste of time compared to IPL teams. That includes current day Australia and SA.

__________________
cricket is a PROCESS, not an EVENT or two. -- Sohel_NR
Fans need to stop DUI (Dreaming Under Influence)!

Originally Posted by Kabir
I would've said "bravo" to this comment had he not put Bangladesh under the spotlight here. I agree with Gowza...but that really isn't what Malik wanted to say. He wanted to be demeaning to Bangladesh, much like many other Pakistanis do on a regular basis. It's the superiority complex that some of them suffer from. So his intent was completely different.

Going with Gowza's comments, I would say that playing any team is a waste of time compared to IPL teams. That includes current day Australia and SA.

TRUE. And very well said Kabir Bhai.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eshen
And his uncontrollable mouth diarrhea got him into trouble.

People do not learn from history. Ganguly ek somoy boro boro kotha bolto. And then what happened? He was out of the Team India for about a year. Maliker kopaleo money hoy emon kisu asey, karon manusher money kosto diley er porinam bhalo hoy na. And his comment hurt 150 million BD fans. BD fans know very well that they suck; there was no need for Malik to drag BD nd compare with IPL.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bharat
Malik has a reputation of making stupid comments..remember the muslim comment in the 20-20.

Before we criticise him, let's ask ourselves, is he right or wrong? While there are other countries that fit in his description, Bangladesh got more chances to play Pakistan than say Ireland or Kenya and flopped more often than anyone.

That's the problem, we can't take criticism of any kind. Thats why we never improve.

COnsidering the rich sets of players standard of IPL, as expected, is much higher than most of the international teams, not only Bangladesh. But his comment sounds like an excuse to his horrible performance in the IPL.

Shoaib Malik is a very interesting character. I remember watching one of his interviews on youtube from a Pakistani talk show. He is quite dumb and surprisingly so. I think he makes such statements out of sheer dumbness than anything else. He needs classes in communication skills....but then no one can teach presence of mind and wits.

He is an average player....probably wont even find a place in another team.
He is very poor in communication skills.
He is not loyal. His marriage episode proves that in which he once admitted on tv that he was married to the girl and then later on denied it. The girl is still waiting for the formalities of a divorce and Malik refuses to even talk.
His body language is the worst possible for a captain. He looks beaten in tough situations.